Autumn in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday & Saturday, October 2 & 3

I grouped these two days together because they were so similar, cool temperatures and sunny skies.  Both days started out in the upper 50’s and had highs in the upper 60’s.  October 2 was the first time of the season that we used our reverse-cycle heat in the evening.  

Most of this two-day blogpost will focus on Saturday, when I accomplished the most. I spent most of Friday not feeling so well—I think I had a gastrointestinal bug of some type.  

Whoops!

In the evening, I had chills.  By Saturday morning, I was feeling much better and raring to go in the preparation for the refinishing of the port toe rail.  

I took the whisker pole off the deck so that I didn't have to work around it.  I rough sanded and taped off the entire forward toe rail on the post side by noon.  I used my Fein sander since I was only sanding only the worn areas--this sander has a small triangular sanding pad which is great for getting into small areas.  I completely sanded the worn areas, tapering the existing finish into the worn area so that I would get good adhesion and a blending of the new and old finish.

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My latest read was Full Disclosure by Storm Daniels, the porn star who had a fling with Donald Trump.  This book, available on Amazon, was about much more than the extra-marital fling, but about her entire life.  She was born in Baton Rouge, LA.  Her early interests involved riding horses and writing.  She got straight A’s in grade school and high school, despite having a bad home life.  She started dancing in strip clubs when she was 17 years old and passed up a chance at getting a degree in Veterinary Medicine because dancing was so successful for her.  She became a very successful porn actor, writer, and director. 

 

The book cover of my most recent read.

Then she had a chance meeting with Trump who tried to lure her with a possible appearance on his “Apprentice” TV show.  It never worked out but they had sex—$130,000 worth of sex as it turned out.  $130,000 was the amount that Michael Cohen paid her for her silence on behalf of Trump.  Trump still claims he didn’t have sex with her despite the photographs of them together and her girlfriends who were invited along.

This book was well written and well worth reading.

Sunday, October 4

The outside temperature dropped into the 40's last night and I was glad for the reverse-cycle heat.  In the morning I did a little more touch up sanding with my Fein sander because I missed a few spots yesterday.  After wiping down the rough sanded toe rail with brush cleaner, I began the application of Cetol.  (The can of Cetol was sitting outside overnight and it became kind of creamy--I used it anyway but I'm going to throw it away after this coat.  I have a new can of Cetol I can use.)  The first application of Cetol over the (sanded) badly worn areas always looks rough but this area looked particularly rough, probably because the finish in this area was more deteriorated.

The first application of Cetol over (sanded)
badly worn areas always looks rough
but this area was particularly rough.

I spent the afternoon relaxing and watching football games, like any Sunday afternoon in autumn.

Monday, October 5

Today was another beautiful autumn day, full of sunshine and with outdoor temperatures in the 60's.  I got an early start on the forward port toe rail refinishing.  By 10:30 AM, I had it sanded and the first full coat of Cetol was applied.  (I think this section will require a total of six coats!)

Later in the morning with Maggie's help, I deflated the dinghy and tied lines around it so as to reduce its space on the foredeck.  We hope to make our trip to Annapolis in about a month with the dinghy in this position.  (It will remain in this position for the entire winter.)

We deflated our dinghy and repositioned it
on the foredeck for the winter.

As you can see in this image, there is a lot
more room around the dinghy now.

In the afternoon, I added one more line around the dinghy (after I took the above images) and tied it securely to the boat.

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Since it was the beginning of a new quarter, it was time to change the fresh water filter cartridge again.  Maggie and I do this little job together.  We also cleaned out the raw water strainer for the  A/C unit--this may be the last time we need to clean it for the year since marine growth has slowed significantly due to the lower water temperatures.

Tuesday, October 6

We drove to Annapolis in the morning.  It was a beautiful autumn day with full sunshine and temperatures in the 50's and 60's!  We needed to do some errands in Annapolis.

On our way driving to Annapolis, Kato Marine called about my bow guard plates being completed—this was perfect timing since my project schedule was light for Wednesday and Thursday.

After picking up the bow guard plates at Kato Marine and filling a propane tank at True Value Hardware, we had pizza for lunch at Italian Market.  Before heading home we picked up some cat food for Lola and some (MODELO) beer for me.

Trump’s “Coronavirus Episode” Believed to be 100% Theatrics

My take on Trump’s “coronavirus episode” is that it was all a stunt designed to gain publicity.  His rapid COVID-19 test performed in the White House (known to have only 95% accuracy) was probably a false positive.  You should note that there were no follow up tests reported at Walter Reed to confirm he had COVID-19 but rather the report of an experimental drug cocktail applied immediately to someone who probably never had the virus.  I believe it was all theatrics.  He even did a second take on his arrival back at the White House with two cameras rolling, while removing his face mask.  You have to admit that this theory fits all the lying and disinformation coming out of the White House.

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While the toe rail refinishing project will continue for some time to come, my next boat project (being done in parallel) will be mounting the bow guard plates to prevent further anchor damage.  Stay tuned... 

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